


Blossoming as a Blade

by JustCuzMe



Series: Finding Home [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I finally understand, Original Character is a marine, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rivals, SI-OC, Self-Insert, Slow Burn, Strong to Stronger, The Comfort Comes Later, Time Skips, is that the right tag for a work like this?, tags are a pain, whitebeard pirates are supportive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:15:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 15,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24751465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustCuzMe/pseuds/JustCuzMe
Summary: Being reborn into the world of one piece, I didn't know what to expect. I thought I would just be one of the side characters, reading of the Strawhats from a newspaper, gossiping with some friends in one of the blues far away from the Grandline and all its craziness. Apparently, fate has other plans for me.Ch 1-3 have been editedCh 4 and above have not been checked for pacing or anything[The original version of Taking Flight]
Relationships: Monkey D. Garp & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace & Sabo, Original Character & Monkey D. Garp, Original Character & Original Character, Portgas D. Ace & Shirohige | Whitebeard | Edward Newgate, Portgas D. Ace & Whitebeard Pirates, Portgas D. Ace/Original Female Character
Series: Finding Home [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1912117
Comments: 4
Kudos: 74





	1. Being born... again

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I'll try to keep this short. Anyways, thank you for clicking in on my fic and reading it (maybe). I made this fic mostly for myself to enjoy but am just posting it on here just as a side. Fair warning, this is my first fic and my first time doing something like this. I also don't remember every single detail of one piece so there might be things that are different from the anime/manga. There are no set release schedules but as I'm currently in quarantine with nothing to do, there will probably be updates soon.
> 
> That's enough of that, I hope you enjoy reading what I wrote and have a nice day! - Author

Back in my old world, I was just a normal teen who had no dreams other than to get a stable job that pays well and live a comfortable life. Being a banana, I studied hard and was one of the top students in my grade. I also took a bunch of extracurriculars and did well in music and sports. Even though my family wasn’t rich and my existence wasn’t impactful, I would have liked to think that I was living my life how I wanted it and doing a pretty damn good job of making my parents proud.

That was until I died in the most cliché way possible. (Yep. The way most isekai people go. No, not the summoning route.)

It happened so fast, everything was a blur. I was walking back home from a late class, excited to eat dinner when I suddenly heard desperate honking. Before I was able to react I was already lying on the ground in a growing puddle of my own blood.

It hurts! IT HURTS!!!

I couldn’t breath, I was so cold, I was in pain, I was in shock.

I was dying.

I could feel the life draining out of me, could feel that this would be the last few moments of my life.

No, NO! I don’t want to die! I don’t want to die!! I haven’t even lived past 15 yet! Haven’t gotten a driver’s license, haven’t traveled the world, haven’t fallen in love, haven’t finished school. I was still deciding what to do with my life! 

Dammit! DAMMIT! How could I die like this?!

The color was leaving my vision, my brain couldn’t think anymore, this was the end.

Darkness consumed me.  
\------------------------------------------------

All around me I could feel warmth. It was dark but very comforting, like I was floating in a gentle sea. I kept floating within this warmth for an unknown amount of time until it started.

The squeezing.

All around me, I could feel it was contracting and squeezing me out of wherever I was right now. Hey! I wanted to stay here dammit! 

Unfortunately, I could not fight back against whatever it was that was squeezing me out and I was suddenly introduced to somewhere that was very bright but cold.

I wanted to go back! Waaaaaa…?

‘Waaa’...?

....After a period of time, I realised something, something that should be impossible and just a way to make stories interesting, something legendary.

Was I just born into another world? The dream of all weebs!? (Or maybe it was just my dream.)

Though I was fairly normal, there were also some things I was obsessed with, one of which was reading. I would read for hours and hours, reading anything from books to fanfics to web novels to manga to webtoons to textbooks. My username was literally ‘ReadingFanatic’ on most of my social media.

Considering this, it is obvious that I would be a weeb that reads manga like no one’s business, and one of my favorite genres was Isekai. Being transported into another world.

How was I so sure that this was another world you ask? Well, I wasn’t sure at first because I spent most of my time stuck inside my room doing nothing other than sleeping, eating, and… excreting bodily waste. Thinking about it now, I was just a baby so it was normal. However, I was still very embarrassed sucking a nipple, unable to control my own body and being wiped clean by someone else’s hand other than my own. 

I guessed that the people who were taking care of me were my parents, my mother had a soft and gentle voice. She often spoke to me in something that was a mix of English and Japanese, which was really weird, but when she spoke it was soothing like music. My father on the other hand had big, warm hands that liked to pick me up and pat my head. His voice was deep and smooth, and he would cradle me in his arms while singing to make me fall asleep.

When I woke up, usually my father would be at work and after a while mother also started working again. I had nothing and nobody to entertain myself with. 

Therefore I passed the time trying my best to be a fanatic baby, the most wonderful baby of all time! 

Though it was mostly to pass the boredom, I never cried unless necessary and tried my hardest to move. Two months have passed and due to my efforts I was already able to see with depth and move from my side to my back. This would have been physically impossible in my old world without being around four months old, however in this world I was able to achieve it.

Perhaps this was one of the first clues that I was in a different world.

Now that I could see more clearly, my parents are actually pretty good looking. Both had dark hair and blue eyes, tanned skin and pearly white teeth. Mother was very pretty, with a thin waist and long legs while my father was very handsome with a sharp jaw and strong body. Considering this, it was very possible that I inherited some of their genes and had dark hair and blue eyes as well.

Growing up in this fashion, I was able to crawl at three months old, which seems to surprise my parents even with this world’s standards, and I’ve also started babbling.

I’ve always had a thing for impressing my parents and making them proud, even in my original world this was something I prided myself in. Being a filial child and taking care of my parents made me their unofficial favorite child which annoyed the heck out of my sister. On the off hand, it also caused my parents to spoil me rotten with the only reason for me not turning out to be some kind of pussy being my sister and her tendency to bring my ego back down to earth.

With this kind of relationship, me and my sister fought almost all the time. Her attacking me physically and me telling on her to our parents. I was five points terrified of her, three points in awe of her and two points helplessly fond of her.

When we both started growing up, instead of attacking me because of how annoying I was (I was VERY annoying, looking back), she learned to use my status of ‘favorite child’ to her advantage and had me ask our parents for stuff that she wanted. She would also ask me to take the blame for our mischief and all the problems we caused, even though she was the one that roped me in with her.

Of course, I think our parents were always aware of all of this behind the scenes but just let us do as we please. Though they were probably very amused.

I miss them… my old family… dammit, why did I have to die?! It was that stupid driver’s fault! I was just walking, just walking! Like I had a hundred times before! I-

[Sensing emotional levels that exceed the advised limit regarding ***, implementing a new lock.]

I-... wait what!? Wha- who are you? Hey! What are you going to do?! HEY! What are you talking about?! What new lock?! ANSWER ME!!!

There was no answer.

… What the frick just happened. No, more importantly, what lock? A restriction?

A restriction for… what?

After that alarming experience, quite a while passed after me suddenly bawling my eyes out from fright and my parents trying their best to calm me down. Finally taking the time to think and brood about it, I’ve narrowed it down to what I think it is most likely going to restrict:

My emotions to my previous life.

It was quite obvious, I wasn’t stupid and I could take a hint. Right before that thing did what it did, I was right on the verge of feeling intense emotions from my memories of my family from my last life. It also included ‘emotional levels’ within its message, so it was probably activated when it sensed my emotions running out of control. This also means that it is most likely restricting me from said emotions. However, I cannot say for sure whether it goes beyond that to ‘not able to experience ANY intense emotions’ or just ones about my time on earth.

Ummmm, well, first I need to see if this lock is actually about what I predicted and if it exists in the first place. Mom, dad, sis… yeah definitely restricted my emotions, I felt nothing. No sadness, no nostalgia, just nothing.

Ughhhh this SUCKS! I was quite a smart kid back on earth and I know what this might imply.  
There might be a higher entity at work and they are most likely the cause of why a was reborn as well as the restriction.  
I might have entered a contract that I don’t remember and have to do something as promised in said contract. Though this one is just a theory from all those manga and fanfics I read.  
This higher entity has full control over everything, even my emotions. However, it has not been confirmed whether this control is only for things related to earth.  
Even though this higher entity is aware of me, it has not done anything other than placing my emotions under restrictions.  
The message said ‘new lock’, that means there are most likely ‘old locks’ too.

I… this… what do I do now?


	2. Growing Up

It’s been three years since the message came up and now I can do everything a three year old can do and more. I figured out the language and could now speak, read, write and count to one hundred. I was known as a little prodigy, and even though I sort of have a cheat that was my previous life, I was still a little proud. It was also probably because I already spoke english and therefore automatically knew half the language.

Oh, I also figured out what my name was and meant. It was pronounced like Hannah but meant “Blossom as a blade”. Pretty cool name right?

Unfortunately, one thing that I could do nothing about was that message. No matter how I tried to get it to reappear again, it just didn’t react.

I know I’m still under the control of the restriction because everytime I look through my memories, I could do it rationally and critically without any feelings attached. I should have been mourning, should have been broken from being separated from my family like that, but I was just calm as the sea before a storm. I didn’t even react to my memory of my death.

For times like those, I kind of felt thankful for this lock, for being able to sleep at night without PTSD, for being able to live my new life without guilt for replacing my old family, but I felt sick. Sick that I didn’t care anymore, sick that I COULDN’T care anymore, not without feelings. Without feelings, it was just like watching a movie from first person view, nothing more, nothing less. It should have been personal to me, it should have been important to me, but I didn’t feel anything. It felt like it was stolen from me, it was still there, but I no longer cared for it because the memories came without any feeling.

Did that restriction really just lock my emotions? Or did it do something more?

While I was going through this emotional turmoil, I turned one and our entire ship had a gigantic celebration. I got to meet almost everyone one on the ship in under one night. Everyone knew everyone else and behaved like one tight-knit family. While this happened, I also found out what my parents were doing all that time that they weren’t with me (no, I’m not salty, I swear).

We were part of a circus called the “Flying Phoenix” that sailed all around the world in a ship putting on shows in town, my room was located on said ship. The circus was pretty famous and had over a hundred performers, with even more personnel working behind the scenes. One unique aspect of our circus was that everyone that belonged to the circus had to wear a phoenix mask to add to the “mysterious and graceful aura”. It also served to keep their identity confidential, though I have no idea why. The mask can take any form such as one that covers the entire face, the upper half, the lower half, the right or left side, or even just an eye, each mask is unique and one is never the same as another. Usually the adults only take off their masks when they board the ship while children get their masks at the age of five.

Whenever the circus puts on a show, for father’s act, he would throw daggers while mother could contort her body to almost inhumane levels. Occasionally, they would collaborate and father would throw daggers at mother while she would contort her body to avoid the daggers. However, even though they were highly skilled experts in their respective arts, the Flying Phoenix was known for its trapeze acts that were rumored to defy gravity.

I was able to personally witness this when my second birthday came around. My parents borrowed a blank mask for me and brought me off the ship into town to watch the show. It was supposed to be my birthday present.

It was magnificent.

Even though I don’t think my parents expect me to remember what I saw, it was amazing. The way the artists flipped or spun, swinging from bar to bar. The rumors didn’t lie, they WERE practically defying gravity, staying in the air for an impossibly long time.

It was like gravity worked around them instead of the other way around.

I began wandering the ship when I turned three, the family located closest to us had a child around my age and we were always together like two peas in a pod. The child’s name was Zach and even though he was one year older than me, I was more mature than him, so our dynamic was really weird. It was like I was his older sister or something, constantly trying to stop him from doing anything too stupid and being roped into all his troubles. It was like in both lives I had a knack for attracting mischievous, troublesome siblings that I just couldn’t hate for some reason.

Nevermind, I hate this kid.

“Hannah, guess what I did?” Popping out from nowhere like he always does, Zach beams up at me from my place on one of the crates on the deck.

“What did you do now?!” A vein pulsed on my forehead. This idiot must have done something extraordinarily stupid to find it “boast worthy”.

“I mayyyyy or may not have stolen the Ringmaster’s hat that he needed for today’s performance. That’s going to happen in five minutes.”

Fuck.

“ZACH! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!! WHY DID YOU DO THAT!!!”

Slipping off the crate I was on in record time, I reached for his collar and started shaking him a hundred times per second.

“Oh come onnnnn, it was only for fun, you should have seen his face! HAH!” Zach laughed, totally unrepentant and unaffected.

Huffing, I let go of his collar and controlled my anger. “Zach, let’s go return the hat, this instant.”

“Awwww, come o-”

“NOW.”

Scrambling off the ship, we dashed to the place with the most festive lights and the biggest tent in town. Sprinting with everything we’ve got, we made it halfway into the show.

Spotting father with his mask on backstage, I dashed towards him and shouted, “F-FATHER! THE RI,RINGMASTER’S H-HAT, THE RINGMASTER’S HAT! HERE!” 

Shoving the hat into my father’s surprised arms, I collapsed onto the ground panting with Zach trailing after me.

“H,how do y,you r,run that fa,fast with su,such st,st,stubby legs?”

“Shu,shut up! This i,is all y,your fault!” Wheezing from the strain, I yelled at him with what’s left of my precious air.

Father’s eyes darted between us, his confused look transferring through the mask.

“Hannah, what’s going on?”

Taking a moment to recover from our run, I started explaining what happened, and he, as the absolute jackass that my father can be, started laughing at us.

“Father, what are you laughing at?! Hurry and give the hat to the ringmaster! Isn’t it important for the show?” I was feeling insulted, but the show was more important right now and I was getting more anxious because my stupid father was just standing there doing nothing. Wait, could it be that we’re too late?!!

“Hannah, dear, that’s for the show at Loguetown next week. Even though the ringmaster REALLY likes his hat, it isn’t absolutely necessary for the show unless he’s using it for something. Though I think he would rather be with it than without it.”

Father was more than a little amused at our antics while I was slowly registering what he just said.

“DAMMIT ZACH! COME HERE!!!”

“Bwahahahaha- ack!”


	3. The Festival

Stomping on our way back to the ship. Zach, sporting a fresh steaming bump on his forehead, was being dragged by me by the collar and sulking. Probably one of the best things of this world was that mild domestic violence was acceptable and considered something normal here.

Sighing, after walking around for a while, I realised that I was so preoccupied with running, I forgot to memorise the way back to the ship.

“Ughhh, dammit, this is all your fault.”

“HOW IS THIS MY FAULT!?”

“IT JUST IS, DUMBASS!”

Trying to get this over with as quickly as possible, I directed us to one of the decent looking shops on the streets. Spotting a middle aged woman that seemed nice, I started walking up to her.

Clearing my throat, I kept my eyes open until I felt them start tearing up a bit. It was time.

“Auntwie! Do you know which way awe the docks?”

Zach's jaw fell to the floor.

“Aww sweetie, are you lost? You need to go to the docks right? Do you want some help?”

“It’s okway auntwie! We have ouw big bwother thewe so we’ll be alwight!” I lied without blinking an eye.

Zach turned to me with confusion, “Hey Hannah, we don’t h- oof!”

Thrusting my elbow into his stomach, I continued to say, “We just need to weach the docks and then big bwother will be thewe to pick us up, can you plweeeease tell us whewe it is?”

The middle aged woman looked at us strangely before shrugging and giving us the directions to the docks. Warning us to be careful on the way there, she waved goodbye and started tending to business again.

After we walked away, Zach suddenly popped beside me, “Hey! We don’t have an older brother! Actually, I do, but you don’t! Why did you lie to that nice lady?”

Instead of answering his question, I instantly returned to my original way of talking (that was so embarrassing), turned around and asked a question of my own. “Hey Zach, do you wanna have some fun?”

Zach looked at me suspiciously, “Of course I wanna have fun, but what’s it to you? You also haven’t answered my question yet!”

Ignoring him again, I answered him with yet another question, “When do you think we’ll be allowed off the ship again, WITHOUT supervision?”

“Huh? Ummmmmm... a while?”

Inwardly ashamed at trying to trick a kid who doesn’t know anything, I shake my head and say, “Not just ‘a while’, but a very long time. We’ll probably only be allowed off the ship by ourselves only when we’re both older than ten!”

That was a lie, considering the only time we need our masks are when we get off the ship and we get our masks when we turn five, isn’t that indirectly telling us that we can get off the ship by then? It’s just that I’m currently three, and it’ll take two more years to be able to leave the ship by myself. I was an independent kid in my previous life, and I was starting to feel bored being on the ship all day every day.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, Zach doesn’t know that.

“Really! That long? Awwwww this sucks!” 

Turning my eyes away for a second, I silently apologised to him before I turned back and continued to trick- I mean, persuade him.

“Exactly! So that’s why I’m thinking of taking this time to enjoy the festival before we return to the ship! How about it? Now that we know where the ship is, we can return whenever we want! Plus, it isn’t going to get too dangerous as long as we return before the sun sets and stick to crowded areas.”

Still a little hesitant, Zach tried one last struggle, “Hannah, I’m still not sure about this…”

Using my last trump card, the natural gift of all children, I sighed before closing my eyes. When my eyes opened again, I stared at him with my most lethal weapon… puppy eyes.

“Pleaseeeeeee?”

Choking on nothing, Zach sputtered and backpedaled away. Following him closely, I kept my puppy eyes up and begged him again. I knew I had won, I just needed to wait.

After struggling with himself for a while, he finally let up and turned back to me embarrassed, yelling, “Don’t do that with your eyes! It’s creepy! And also what you did with that lady was weird as hell too! We’ll go check out the festival, okay? Just don’t do that again!”

Chuckling, I appeased him before taking his hand and we started wandering the streets. The menace of Flying Phoenix finally has a weakness, and I’m sooo going to exploit it until it doesn’t work anymore. 

Walking down a street filled with food stands, we passed by a kebab stand and Zach’s eyes started sparkling. No matter how hard I pulled, he wouldn’t budge. 

Sometimes, he has strength in the most useless areas.

Huffing from the effort from trying to move him, I puffed up my cheeks and told him bluntly, “Do you even have enough money to buy that?”

Deflating immediately, he slouched his shoulders and started drawing circles in some dark corner of the street he popped into. Sniffly saying, “But it smells so good~.”

‘How did he even… nevermind, not going down that particular rabbithole.’

Feeling a headache coming, I sighed and walked up to the stand. Bringing out my emergency money stash I kept in my shoe sole, I took out enough for three kebabs. After I received them, I passed two to Zach while I kept one for myself.

“This is the only time I’m doing this, alright? You have to learn how to save your own money!” 

“Nah, you’ll just buy the stuff for me. Why would I need to save money?”

“If you save money, you’ll be able to buy delicious food like the kebabs on your own.”

“Yeah! I’ll start saving!”

This… idiot.

Passing by a skewer stand, Zach once again stopped walking and started drooling. Feeling my forehead tick, I turned to him but stopped whatever I wanted to say when he directed his own pair of puppy eyes at me.

Fuck, this kid… is a fast learner. I’m kind of proud yet pissed at the same time.

“This is the last time, alright?! No more!”

Rolling my eyes, I paid for our skewers and we started walking again. Only for this to happen a couple more times before I ran out of emergency money. Without money, we couldn’t do anything and had to return to the ship. Shaking my head, I could only smile fondly as Zach burped while holding his bulging belly.

Today was a pretty good day.  
……………………………………………………………………………..  
Several years later…

“Hey Hannah, remember that time we went to the festival when I was four? How did you even have so much money in the first place?”

“It’s a secret. You don’t need to know.”

“You stole it from your parents, didn’t you?”

“...”

“Pfttttt, bwahahahahaha! If the adults were here right now, they wouldn’t think you’re such an angel anym- ack!”


	4. The Journey

Listening to the rain outside, countless drops of water fell and merged into the ocean while countless others were absorbed into soil. All necessary to the continuation of the world I currently live in. 

Why was I thinking about such things? It’s because I. Am. So. Bored. 

There is literally nothing to do on the ship except for staying in my room. I could go bother my parents to entertain myself, but like I said, I want to be the world’s best child, so no. It also helps that my parents were currently… preoccupied with providing me with a new sibling.

Yeah, I really don’t want to disturb them right now. I was younger than fifteen before and now I’m three, not happening.

Either way, we are currently on our way to a place called Loguetown. Nothing special really, just gonna put on a show and stay for some event or something, before sailing to another island. Speaking of which, it turns out that this world is not made of continents, but lots and lots of islands and a ton more ocean than my original world. It makes life interesting seeing the different cultures each island has, just wish I could get my hands on a map to see what the world looked like.

Another different thing was something I was very familiar with since I spent my whole current life on it, the ocean. The ocean is completely CRAZY, the most I have to complain about was the weather because it shakes the ship like an earthquake on the third level of the richter scale. It is also because the entire crew needs to help stabilize the ship, including mom and dad, but not the children, so I get really bored in addition to really sea sick. Though I should probably be thankful that all I have to do is lie down while the adults scramble around trying to keep the ship from sinking.

There were also things I learned from stories my parents tell me, even though they’re fake and are overexaggerated or straight up impossible, after all, there are no such things as sea monsters, or in this case ‘Sea kings’. Mom and dad probably just saw a really big sea creature. After all, the technology here is a few decades worse than earth’s, so why not the knowledge and belief of supernatural things as well?

Anyway, I was straight up bored, and I needed to do something. Fast.

Jumping off my bed, I headed outside and into the hallways that connected all the rooms together. I slipped into the bathroom and began staring at my face. I wasn’t vain and all that, but I’ll admit that I like some eye candy too, even if said eye candy was myself. 

I had black hair like my previous life, but that’s where most of the similarities stop. My eyes were a beautiful blue like that of the ocean and my skin was pale, mostly because I spent most of my time indoors. I had chubby cheeks like any three year old should have, and in all honesty, I was really cute. My cheeks were really soft and pinchable too, so much so that Zach has made a habit to greet me with a cheek pinch instead of a wave or high-five or something. That annoying brat.

I headed out of our little ship-apartment thing and onto the deck, where the rain was pelting on me. Quickly running to the door next to our own, I knocked and silently waited.

“Hey Zach, someone’s at the door, go get them.”

“How about you do it yourself! Why do you always get me to open the door?!”

“Because you're the only one standing around doing nothing.”

“Huh?! What does that mean, you wanna fight?!”

“You little shit, fight me if you're not afraid to lose your balls!”

“You’re the shit, you big shit!”

“You-”

“JUST SHUT UP AND GET THE DOOR!!!”

“Tch.”

Hearing the door finally creak open, before the person was able to say anything, I dashed inside, refusing to get any more soaked than I already am.

“HEY! You can’t just bar- oh it’s Hannah! You’re from next door right? What are you doing here?”

Looking up, a boy around the age of seven looked down at me. He had dirty blond hair with blue eyes like a sapphire and his face boasted small patches of freckles that sprinkled over his nose and cheeks. He looked just like a grown-up version of Zach.

“Oh, hey Hannah! This is my brother Jeffery, Jeffery, this is Hannah, but you already know that.”

Surprisingly enough, though Zach and I were very close, this was the first time I’ve had a proper look at his family.

I need to make a good impression.

Clearing my throat, I started introducing myself, “Hello! I am Hannah Rusu and am three years old this year, it is nice to meet you Jeffery!”

Success!

“... are you sure this person is your friend Zach?”

“Yeah, she’s too polite to be friends with someone like you.”

“Wish I had a sister like that…”

“HEY!”

“It’s true! Look at how cute and well behaved she is, then look at yourself! You dare say that you can beat this level of cuteness?!”

I… what? Is there a lolicon in the area? 

Deciding to focus my attention elsewhere, I directed my gaze to a girl sitting on a chair in the corner of the room knitting some kind of hat. She looked older than all of us, around ten years old with blond hair instead of her brothers’ dirty blond. She also had blue eyes like everyone else in the room and sun tanned skin.

Catching me looking at her, she coughed in embarrassment before leaving the chair to walk over to me.

“Hello Hannah, my name is Alice and I’m the oldest of the Hato siblings,” Slightly turning her nose up, she continues to say, “our parents work as trapeze artists, you know, the ones that our circus is famous for and- ow!”

Holding up a steaming fist, Jeffery looked satisfyingly at the bump he left on his sister’s head before turning back to me and apologising, “Sorry about that, she always does it even when we try to knock that particular habit out of her. Quite literally. She’s just proud of our parents’ work, don’t take it to heart.”

“Oh okay then, it’s nice to meet you too Alice!” I beamed at her. I wasn’t bothered in the least, after all, they’re still kids compared to my collective 17 years of life.

They both stare at me for a long time before suddenly groaning and holding their foreheads in their palms.

“How does someone like her exist…”

“Is it even possible to get a person to this sort of level? Well, clearly it’s possible, but how...”

Me: (Utterly confused) Wut?

“Hey! I think you guys are forgetting something important here!”

Ah, yes, I have forgotten your existence, I think the world was better without it.

Quickly changing subjects from whatever just happened, I turned back to Zach and said, “Hey Zach, anyways, sorry for barging in like this without prior warning. It was just that I was really bored in my room doing nothing, so I decided to visit. Was I intruding? If so, I’m very sorry.”

“No, not at all!” Jeffery and Alice said at the same time.

“Ahem, okay then. Thank you in advance and I hope you’ll take care of me!”

“Of course!” They said in sync yet again.

Wow, siblings, I miss doing that too, sigh.


	5. Realization

It’s been a few days since I’ve gone to the Hato family. The storm is still raging outside and now I visit the siblings everytime I’m bored, and that is everyday, so a lot. The good thing is that we’ll be reaching town soon and Alice has promised to supervise us so we can explore the town. Finally, something to do.

To pass the time, I got Alice to teach me how to knit and she gave me her old knitting kit as well as some yarn. At first, I was confused because, quite frankly, Alice is terrible at explaining.

“You just do this then loop and go through that, then do this, then that, then this, then repeat it until you're done.”

“... Could you explain that again please? Slower?”

Yeah… we ended up having Jeffery explain how to do it.

Anyways, after I knew how it was done, I was clumsy at first. Some parts were thicker than others, others tangled up or just completely wrong. However, as time went by and I got more familiar with it, it started to get easier and was surprisingly simple. Maybe by the end of this year, I could make something for the little sibling I’m bound to get at the rate my parents were going. Dad is very determined.

Actually, now that I think of it, shouldn’t my parents be really grateful that I spend a lot of time at the Hato’s? This is why I’m the best child in the world, helping my parents even unconsciously.

Coming out of my thoughts I overheard Alice and Jeffery talking about something interesting.

“I’m just thinking it’s such a coincidence that we’re here right about when he’s going to be executed. Maybe we can ask the ringmaster if we could stay here until it’s over?”

“Probably, last time I heard, the adults were really excited too.”

“Hey guys, what are you talking about?”

Turning towards me, both Jeffrey and Alice looked confused.

“You don’t know about it?” Jeffery asked with a raised brow.

“If I knew about it, I wouldn’t be asking you”, I shot back with my own raised brow.

Jeffery squealed with hearts in his eyes, “Oh my gosh she has sass, that’s so cute!”

I merely rolled my eyes before turning to Alice for help. Alice, the ever calmer sibling of this family may not be good at explaining, but she is more helpful than Jeffery sometimes.

“It’s everywhere in the news! The execution of the Pirate King! Gold Roger!”

Oh, Pirate King Gold… Roger…? Wait…

Scrambling off my chair, I grabbed onto Alice and looked at her in the eyes, “Alice, which sea are we sailing right now?”

If it were my original world, Alice would have said something like the Pacific Ocean or something, but if this is where I think it is…

“East Blue, why? What’s wrong Hannah?”

...Oh. My. Gosh. I’m such an idiot!

“I’m… I’m going home for today! Bye guys, see you when we reach the town!”

Running back toward the door to my room, I skittered across the deck and burst through the door. Not even bothering to announce my coming home, I ran right past my parents who were, thankfully, just sharpening their knives and stretching. Once I ran into my room, I slammed my door shut and jumped onto my bed. Shrieking into my pillow.

This is so embarrassing! As a major One Piece fan, I couldn’t even tell I was in One Piece! This is the greatest shame of my life! Especially my mindset before, Sea Kings weren’t real my ass! We probably just had our hull plated in sea stone or something, how we were able to afford it, no one knows.

More importantly, I was in One fucking Piece! (Pun intended)

The One Piece that had Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Usopp, Robin, Brook, Franky and Jinbe! In a universe that has badass siblings like Ace or Sabo that I could only dream of! In a universe with bonds so strong that you would die for other people!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (Hannah ex. Has stopped working)

Ahem. Anyways, now that I know this is the One Piece universe, that clears up a lot of things. This also makes things complicated as now, I have to try my best to be strong. Well, as long as I can protect myself, it’s fine. I don’t intend to join the Strawhats or anything like the fanfics usually do when they have their character reborn into this universe because I’m just not that kind of person. I’m not an adrenaline junkie nor a person who’s unsatisfied with being normal, I’ll just train myself up to the standards of this circus. Yeah that’s what I’ll do.

But what do I want to do? I need to pick a fighting style from many styles and a weapon from many weapons, I’m not creative and I don’t have a devil fruit. Hmmmm….

For now, I’ll just apprentice myself under dad just to find a feel until I find a weapon more suited for me. Can’t really do anything with mom because all I’ll have is a really flexible body, and Luffy can do that even without all the work just because of his devil fruit. Yeah… I’ll just go for that for now. 

I can brainstorm this in the future, I have more important things to be worrying about right now.

The Pirate King’s execution!

In the original anime, this was a legendary moment, a moment that started an entire era! A moment that moved hundreds of millions of men to head toward the sea in search of the ultimate treasure, One Piece! The man that had already achieved Luffy’s dream before anyone else!

I am not going to miss this chance to witness such a moment for myself! My One Piece diehard fan heart is fangirl screaming, I swear it could break glass right about now.

Hesitant knocks sounded from my door, “Hannah, are you alright? Did something happen?”

My mother officially has the best timing in the world.

“Mother, mother! When are we going to reach Loguetown?” Even though mother didn’t say anything, my eyes were practically already glittering from anticipation.

“My my, well aren’t you excited. We’ll be there in about an hour. Didn’t you get Alice to agree to supervise you? How come you’re back?” Mother asked in a gentle voice. Concern peeled back replaced by amusement.

“I- I just didn’t know that Gold Roger was going to be executed soon! Isn’t he a really bad pirate from the Grandline? I’m so curious!” I decided to mix some truths in the lies, “I also came back to get my blank mask! I don’t want to forget it!”

“Kekekekekeke, that’s true. You lose and forget everything.” Mother burst into laughter.

“I’m going back to Zach’s again! Bye!” Choosing to ignore what my mother just implied, I ran off with a smile comparable to the Ds.

This is going to be a dream come true.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, before anyone freaks I would like to say that I have never knitted before. Though I have crocheted before and I think it's pretty similar to that. Though I don't exactly know, so if it's really different I'm sorry if I had offended anyone.


	6. The Great Pirate Era

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is pretty long compared to the other ones, so be prepared.

Arriving at Loguetown was the most exciting thing I’ve done in my life, purely just because it was where Gol D Roger was born and where he died, or would die in this case. Everything looked interesting as they took on a new light in my eyes. Afterall, this place was legendary. 

Oh god, I sound just like Bartolomeo, and that is saying something.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I needed to stop fangirling right now and focus more on other things, like mapping out the timeline.

The Edd war took place three years before the execution, which means that it happened in the same year I was born. This also means that Gol D Roger and the Roger Pirates reached Raftel when I was two, however, I still needed to confirm something.

Turning to Alice who was holding my right hand, I asked her, “Hey Alice, do you know when Gold Roger’s getting executed?”

Taking her gaze off the shops we were passing, Alice explained, “He’s getting executed in three days. The marines had already had him for a few months and they finally decided on a date a few weeks ago. Did you know that Roger was born here? Marines probably thought that ending the man in the same place he was born had some kind of irony or something.”

“Really? That’s cool! I didn’t know that, you’re so smart!” I’m not ashamed, it’s like coaxing a child to get them to like you more, not ashamed at all.

Turning her nose to the air, Alice smiled proudly.

Well, at least she’s not on Boa Hancock’s level yet, thank goodness (though she's getting there at the rate I'm going). Not that I think there would ever be anyone on her level.

Anyways, this means Shiki has already been imprisoned at Impel Down four days ago. Sigh, from now on, I’m going to start reading the News Coo even though I didn’t really pay attention to news back in my old world. 

We continued walking down the streets for a while before the boys finally caught up to us again. Alice’s eyebrow twitched.

“Where did you guys wander off to?”

“We passed by this food stand and Zach just wouldn’t shut up about wanting to eat the food.”

“Hey! You wanted to eat it too! Just admit it, you’re as much as a foodie as me.”

“I am not!”

“Yes you are!”

“Am not!”

“Am too!”

“Am n-”

“JUST SHUT UP!!!”

“Tch”

I broke out into laughter. With these guys together, I’ll never not have entertainment.

We explored the town some more and saw the execution platform. It was tall, really tall. I don’t even think I’ll be able to see what’s happening there clearly, but at least I’ll see it.

We returned back to the ship because we’re not allowed to stay out for too long. Else the adults become worried and come searching for us. Just three more days left until the start of a new era.

Just three more days.  
……………………………………………….

Today’s the day, the start of the great pirate era! But there’s just one thing…

I’m not allowed to go. (Noooooooooooo)

WHY?! For parents who let their three year old child wander around a town of pirates with only the supervision of a seven and ten year old, why are you so nonchalant about my physical well being but so worried about my mental health?!! Even my usual ultimate technique didn’t work.

“Father, can I go, pleeeease? I won’t ask for anything else. I just have to go to this one! It's really important to me!”

My Father looked really conflicted, “Sorry sweetie, an execution isn’t really… fun to watch. You’re only three and an execution is where someone is going to die. Are you sure you want to watch it?”

Fine, I was saving this up for something else, but if it allows me to go, then I'll do it! "Dad, pleaseeeee?"

Father choked. 

Mother was more determined, “No Han, you're not allowed to go. It’s settled, and why are you so stuck on going to watch anyways?”

Looking for an excuse, I stuttered, “But… But all the adults are going and even Zach’s family let him go. If you’re worried about me, can’t I just stay reeeally close by? Please, just let me go! I haven’t asked for anything so far, please! I’m begging you!”

Tears almost fell down my face, this time I didn’t even need to act, I was actually close to crying. I haven’t cried in years.

“No.”

Dammit.

That was how that went, and now I’m here. Stuck on the ship with probably no one else because everyone went to watch the execution. I’m all alone…

Wait, I’m all alone. With no one watching me. Doesn’t this mean that if I left, no one would know?

I’m a genius.

Sitting up from my bed, I headed to my desk at the corner of my room and opened my notebook to brainstorm ideas of how to run through town unnoticed and prevent people from wanting to kidnap me or something.

I came up with a bunch of plans but settled on one that was both the safest and most simple to do. Using an article of clothing to cover my face, I’ll blend into the crowd as a normal child and walk all the way to the execution grounds, sticking to where there are more marines and civilians while avoiding any pirates or other punks that might harm me.

With the map of the town I created in my head, I went to grab one of Zach’s hats that could cover my hair and leave my face hard to see. I also borrowed some of Zach’s clothes, afterall, my parents know all of my clothes and would probably recognize me from them.

Looking at myself with the disguise and my short hair , I must say…

I look like a boy.

Ahem, but that’s fine! My gender doesn’t matter as long as I can accomplish my goal! Plus, it’s not like anyone will remember me or pay special attention to me. To others, I’m just a shorty who’s running around without her parents.

Let’s do this.

Running off the ship, I dashed towards the town square where I last saw the execution platform. It took a long time to get there, and everywhere there were sweaty and sticky adults crowded together. The air was blisteringly hot and there were no clouds in sight. I didn’t notice earlier because I was always indoors and in the shade, but I had a really high tolerance to heat. I barely even felt it, and from what I could tell, the sun was practically baking the town in an oven.

As I ran as fast as I could, a sweaty white haired kid suddenly appeared from in between two buildings right in front of me. I couldn’t stop in time and tried to warn him, but I crashed into his side before I could say anything. We landed in a heap as the adults around us turned toward the commotion. 

Scrambling to get up, the white haired kid yelled, “Watch where you're going!” before running off to joining the crowd at main street. I scrambled after him as he pushed his way through the slick bodies. Doing all the work for me as I followed through the gaps he created.

Finally, bursting through the last of the adults that were in front of us, we made it to the front of the crowd, gaining a clear view of a man that was being escorted down the street in cuffs.

The man was gigantic, reaching a high of around 9 feet, wearing an iconic red coat and with his trademark mustache. Though he was heading to his execution, he held his head up with dignity and carried himself with pride. It has to be, this man was Gol D Roger! The man who has everything this world has to offer! 

Staring at him as he passed by, he turned his head towards our direction and glanced at us. Surprised, I could do nothing when he continued to look at us for a second before turning back. A smile appeared on his face as he continued to walk down the street.

Gradually, everyone flowed into the town square, watching as Roger was escorted up to the platform. I had gotten separated from the white haired kid, but that’s alright as I had already got what I wanted. It seems that the executioners were discussing something, but by that time they were already too far away and I could not hear anything nor see things clearly. Roger answered before walking passed them and settling down, the executioners readied their blades.

“Hey! Pirate King!”

This was it.

“What did you do with your treasure? It’s somewhere on the Grandline, isn’t it? You have it, don’t you? The greatest treasure in the world?!”

Both executioners turned back, flustered, one of them yelled, “Insolent! Hold your tongue!”

The moment I had been waiting for.

“Your one special treasure!? ONE PIECE!!!”

The statement resounded through the square, reaching the ears of everybody present. 

Roger chuckled and burst out into laughter, and though he was impossibly far away, somehow everyone could hear him just fine.

“My treasure?”

The executioners swiftly turned their attention back to him, “Alright, that’s enough!”

“If you want it, I’ll let you have it. Go look for it. I left all of it at that place!”

“Execute!”

The executioners hastily stabbed their blades through Roger’s body.

The silence that followed was deafening. Everyone just stood there, processing what they had heard, before equally deafening cheers ran out from everyone present at the square.

I’ll never forget it.

The start of the Great Pirate Era!


	7. Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you guys thought that the last chapter was long than this one is even longer. I also won't be posting the next chapter so soon because I have an exam in a few days and I'm also stuck in writer's block.

Two years have passed since that day at Loguetown. Nothing major happened except, as I’ve predicted, my mother was found two months pregnant a month after we left the East Blue. (How have I not known we were crossing Reverse Mountain?! I was such an idiot.)

My brother’s name was Toby Rusu (His name was supposed to mean Flying Dragon), who was four years younger than me. He has bright blue eyes and black hair like my entire family. He was always so quiet and would immediately brighten up whenever he heard or saw one of us. He was never very fussy and was content to stay quiet for hours as long as you gave him something to chew on. 

Just… so cute, he’s so cute and precious, I think I’m in love.

Anyways, I also received my mask as my birthday gift from the ringmaster. The ringmaster was a man that looked to be within his late fifties, with wrinkles and gray hair poking out from his tophat. Me and the rest of the children would often see him whenever he decides to sit on the deck of our ship with his sun chair and hold storytelling sessions. If given a role, he would probably be the resident grandpa that takes care of the younglings and makes sure the adults don’t get too crazy.

At first, the mask looked like any regular blank mask that I wore before except it was large enough to be worn by an adult. However, as soon as I wore it, the mask immediately shifted to conform to the shape of my face as well as magically form a design. It was so comfortable and light, I couldn’t even feel it if I didn’t pay attention.

The new mask shrunk to cover only the top half of my face. With the base color red, the mask only shifts to a dark red at the very edge of the mask. Additionally, the part of the mask that covers my forehead and the sides of my face are engraved with feather patterns that continue to protrude out, with the shafts and barbs painted white to give off the impression of a chick. The part that covers my nose is painted a bright orange and represents the beak, however, it is rounded off at the point and gives a childish feeling.

“Woahhhh.” I was amazed, these kinds of things never happened in my original world. Even if they did, it was either some cheap trick or technology at work.

“Han, I will explain more in the future, however, there is exactly one mask for every member of the circus, the mask will appear whenever a new member is born in a room called the “nest”.” The ringmaster stared at me and spoke with a serious expression I’ve never seen on his face before.

“Remember, this mask is a representation of your soul. Normally we have red masks, however, legend has it that people who are suffering greatly can change the color of their masks by the sheer devastation they feel.” The ringmaster continued to stare at me before letting out a breath and changing his expression back into the kind one I usually saw. “Remember to not tell anyone outside the circus about it, we’ll keep it a secret just between our family and the world, ok?”

“Okay!” I nodded seriously. 

After thanking him for the gift, I started walking away back to my room to ponder more about it before I was suddenly stopped again. 

“Oh, and Han, I heard that you have a tendency to lose things. Remember, though it is a representation of your soul, you can still lose it! Yiyiyiyiyiyi!” The ringmaster laughed.

“I’m not that unorganized, okay!? W-why do people always think that?!!” I shouted to no one in particular.

Alright, so I’ll admit that there were some major things that happened, but none that beats this moment. This is a moment that will decide the direction of my life and what I will spend said life doing. I’ve been planning for this moment for 2 years now.

Walking down the hall with my father, we stopped in front of a set of humongous doors with all the children going to get their items this year waiting in front of them. The rest of the members formed a semicircle around the children.

Seeing us approach, many of the members shouted out encouragement as well as tips.

“You’ll do fine Han! Don’t be nervous, hihihihihihi!”

“Just let fate guide you!”

“You got this, Han!” Father gave me an encouraging pat on the back and a playful noogie before joining the semicircle. 

Mother yelled from the sidelines, “We’ll be waiting outside, so take your time okay? We’ll be here for you, no matter what you choose!”

“Okay!” I laughed, it’s nice to have such supportive parents and, well, everybody. Though my parents from before were also good, they often decided things for me and didn’t give me much freedom to do anything. They also often didn’t express their support in such an open manner even if they did support anything I did… Ahem, anyways, what I was trying to say was that it felt good and it wasn’t something I could experience often before.

The crowd parted to let the ringmaster through. Coming to stand in front of the doors, he looked all of us over before explaining what we should do once inside.

“Past these doors, there are going to be many things and options to choose from. Whether it’s face paint or a manual on how to use stage lights or a box that can make anything you put inside disappear, all of these things can be found in the rooms behind me. All you have to do is choose something that calls out to you and then walk back out the door again. Simple.” The ringmaster continued nonchalantly, “I wish you good luck and hope that you all finish choosing before dinner time. Now, go on! Decide the path of your life!”

Just as he finished saying that, the doors opened, revealing the corridor behind it. As all the children streamed into the room, I asked the ringmaster one last question.

“Hey, ringmaster, once you pick something, is it possible to change it in the future if it doesn’t suit you?”

“Nope!”

“Ok, so it was as Father said. Thank you! I’ll be going now!”

“Good luck!”

As I’ve said before, I’ve been preparing for two years now, and this also includes interviewing the other members and my parents about their experiences with the mysterious corridor as well as the rooms it connects to. One of the many things I’ve learned is that once you choose something and bring it back outside, you can never change it. The second thing, however, is that there is always something inside for every member of the circus. There has never been a child that had nothing.

Walking inside, there were multiple rooms labeled with different things such as ‘tools’ or ‘miscellaneous’. Following the tips given to me, I strolled around each room and tried to see if I felt some sort of ‘pull’ toward an item. I wasn’t very worried because I know that whatever fate decided to give me would be something that suited me the best.

Speak of the devil. Just as I passed by the door to a room labeled ‘weapons’, I felt a feeling that I should go inside and check it out. The strange thing was, it seems that I was the first kid to open the door to this particular room even though I was the last one to enter. Perhaps in this batch, I was the only one that would gain a weapon? Well, weapon items are pretty rare.

The second I opened the door the calling instantly got stronger, pulling me to the innermost corner of the room. Following this feeling, I gradually came to stop in front of two sets of gigantic throwing knives that could also function as daggers. Both sets have six knives and are identical in design except for one set being made of a black metal and the other set being made of a white metal. The grips of both sets were covered in cloth and the end of the grip finished with a ring.

What a coincidence, before I knew that I had no say in what I decided to bring out, I had wanted to learn how to use throwing knives like my father.

The strange thing was, although both sets of daggers called out to me, the calling for the white set was much weaker than the black set. As if informing me that this set isn’t for me, but someone closely related to me. I smiled, perhaps me and my brother would match in the future?

Turning my amused gaze away from the white set, I picked up the black set and inspected it. Even though it was clearly made for an adult, the set felt comfortable in my hands if just a little too big. It was light, so light that it almost felt like it was hollow and structured the same as bird bones but way more sturdier. I’m sure that in the future, they can be thrown extremely far at an extremely fast velocity. They also looked very sharp, and although I haven’t tested it yet because I don’t want to damage anything, I’m sure they’ll be able to cut many things like butter.

Hugging the black set close to my chest with one arm, I used my other arm to pick up a knife from the white set just to see if there was anything different. I instantly noticed that the white set is definitely heavier than the black set, this would have made the impact of the knives greater than the black set.

Before I was able to get a closer look, one of the kids knocked on the door.

“Hey, anyone in there? Everyone that has already found their items are heading out now!”

“Yeah, I’m coming!”

Reluctantly putting the white knife back where I found it, I turned around and exited the room with the black set still within my embrace. All around me were kids with screwdrivers, hula hoops, and other miscellaneous objects. One kid with a ball came up to me.

“Hey, what did you get?”

Taking out a black knife, I held it out to him for him to look at.

“Woahhhh, that’s so cool! You must have gotten it from the weapons room, that’s pretty rare, only about three people get things from there every decade!”

Suddenly turning to me with sparkling eyes, the kid asked, “Can I touch it?”

“Sure?”

Handing him the knife, I watched in astonishment as he immediately dropped it to the floor, crying out in surprise.

“Hot!”

What?

Rushing to the kid’s side, I crouched down beside him. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Looking to be on the verge of tears, the kid sniffled and said, “Y-yeah! J-just surprised me is all! I-I totally wasn’t scared or anything! It was just so hot that I accidentally dropped it. I-I’m sorry!”

“It’s fine as long as you’re okay. Don’t worry about it.”

Relieved, I stood back up and offered the kid a hand. Taking it, the kid went to pick up the knife on the ground immediately dashed away after giving it back to me, even leaving behind a dust trail. Shaking my head, I decided to ask my parents about what happened earlier.

As we walked out the doors, I spotted father and mother still waiting where I last saw them. Running toward them, I jumped into my father’s outstretched arms and giggled when he caught me mid air and proceeded to hold me up under my armpits simba style. I could see mom break a smile over dad’s shoulder.

“Do you want to tell us about what you got over dinner?” She questioned with a raised brow.

“Yeah! I’ve got a lot of things I want to ask about!”

As we talked away toward the cafeteria, I held one of each of their hands while smiling with joy.

I’m so glad to be alive.


	8. Training

Bang! Bang! Bang! 

Someone was pounding on the door.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Stoppppppp, I’m trying to sleepppppp~

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Ban-

“OKAY! STOP IT ALREADY! I’M UP!!!!”

I could hear my father booming with laughter from the other side of the door, “This is the only way to get you up nowadays! Guafufufufufufu!”

I sighed, if I was going to wake up this early everyday for the rest of my life, I’m going to be so depressed.

Leaving my cozy bed, I walked into the washroom and began washing my face to wake myself up. This has been what my life has transformed into ever since I started training with my father after I got my knives. What was supposed to be some important father daughter bonding arc turned into some kind of hellish training arc instead. I mean, what kind of five year old child needs to wake up at the crack of dawn, run around the deck ten times (one round is about five hundred meters), do one hundred sit-ups and one hundred push-ups all in under an hour? Then proceed to plank for thirty minutes and wall-sit for another thirty minutes?! Though the wall-sits aren’t that bad once you lose all feeling in your legs.

I swear, this is stunting my growth or something. Plus, this was supposed to be WARM UP. Or so my dad tells me.

Nevertheless, it appears that me being in the One Piece universe has also One-Piece-ified my body, because I could do all those exercises that I listed above even though I took way longer than I was ‘supposed’ to. My potential has also One-Piece-ified because it has been six months since I started the hellish training and I’ve improved so much that I can go through the now regular routine, not with ease, but I can at least finish on time without blacking out afterwards.

Finishing up, I left my room and went onto the deck where my father was looking out at the sea, waiting for me.

Grinning, he turned around when he heard my footsteps and said, “Han, I have a surprise for you today!”

I perked up, does this mean…

“Of course, it only comes AFTER your warm-up.”

Fuck.

I sighed. Well, time to get this over with.  
………………………………………………………………

Sluuuuuuuurp. Munch munch munch. Chomp. Munch munch munch.

One other thing I’ve forgotten to mention is that along with the hellish training, my appetite also skyrocketed. At first, the training just made me want to throw up everything I ate, it was after my body started getting used to it that I started eating like crazy. Not nearly at the same level as Luffy because I’m not freaking made of rubber, but still enough to absolutely demolish this plate of pancakes in front of me.

“Guafufufufufu! That’s the spirit! You need all the strength you can muster for the surprise that’s waiting!” Father laughed as he ate with just as much gusto.

“Mo maph, avoup vif burpife, waf vevn ivf iv?” I said.

“Han, dear, no one can understand you. Speak after you finish eating, and when you’re chewing don’t use your front teeth!” Mother, you're surprisingly keen on learning manners.

“Vorry.” I said as I went back to eating.

After we all said thanks to the cook on the way out, Father dragged me all the way to the gym (yes, our ship has a gym) and dumped me in front of a wall. The other people currently using the gym gathered around us curiously.

“Han, from today onwards you’ll officially start to learn how to throw your knives! I actually expected you to start only when you were six, but you were doing so well with the basic training that I thought you could start early!” Father announced proudly.

“Woahhhhhh as expected of Yowa’s daughter. My son only finished his training at the age of eight!”

“Dammit, my lazy ass of an apprentice only finished when she was ten. Had no motivation for the trade or something.”

“Yeah, Han’s a little prodigy though. You can’t really compare her with the other kids.”

“Hihihihihihi, that’s true!”

Awwwww~, you guys are making me blu- wait a second.

Turning to my father with an ominous glint in my eyes, I questioned slowly, “Father?”

My father was still laughing. “Yes?”

“This ‘basic training’ you guys are talking about. It doesn’t happen to be the ‘warm ups’ you had me do, right?”

At this time, my father finally noticed something was wrong. “Yes actually, it is! Is there a problem?”

My gaze immediately turned sharp and my teeth shifted until they were shark-like. “OF COURSE THERE IS, YOU MORON! I ONLY WORKED SO HARD BECAUSE I THOUGHT ALL THE OTHER KIDS COULD DO IT TOO! IF YOU HAD TOLD ME THAT IT WAS BASIC TRAINING, I WOULDN’T HAVE WORKED MYSELF TO THE BONE!!!”

“Guafufufufufu! This just shows that you have potential! Guafufufufufu!”

“True true!”

“Hihihihihi! Well Han, good luck practicing your throwing!”

“Yeah, go easy on her Kowa! It’s hard coming across a daughter like her!”

I swore I heard someone in the background mutter, “No kidding, when can I get my daughter close enough to call me a moron?”

“...”

I’m surrounded… by a bunch of idiots…

By the time I came out of my exasperation, father had already set up a plank of wood around seven feet away from me at chest height. Bringing out my knife set, he examined it before speaking.

“Okay Han, today we’re going to learn the basics about knife throwing. Starting at one of the easiest types of throws ‘half-turn’, we’ll gradually progress to full spin and no spin as well as trick shots, but those are for later. Half turn is done when you hold the blade of your knife so that when it reaches your target, it would have spun one hundred eighty degrees. We’re using the Pinch Grip today, but we’ll try some other methods next time.” Father showed me how to hold the knife by pinching the blade, “Make sure that when you’re throwing to keep your elbow pointed to the target, your left leg in front and to release around right after your arm passes your head. I’ll give you a demonstration.”

Bringing out three knives from his own knife set. He passed my knives to me before turning to the target and throwing them.

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Gesturing for me to walk toward the target, I followed him and listened patiently.

“Han, what difference can you see is there between these three knives?”

“One of them hit the wood pointing down, one of them hit the wood pointing up, and the last one hit the wood pointing straight.”

Father nodded, “Exactly, the knives that point up and down are known as under-rotated and over-rotated in that order. When you under-rotate, step farther away from the target so your knives have more time to rotate, when you over-rotate, step closer to the target. You want your throws to end up straight, like this one. Now you try, don’t expect to land any today and just try to get familiar with the stance and technique.”

“Okay!”

Bringing out a knife, I stood in the stance that my father showed me and carefully held my knife. Double checking to make sure everything is correct, I brought my elbow up and pointed it towards the board. Preparing myself, I built up tension in my body, remembering what my father said about timing…

Clang! Clatter.

Yeah, that was about what I expected too.

“Guafufufufufu! Well, you keep practicing that while I go check up on Toby. Though, for a second I thought it wouldn’t work! Guafufufufufu!”

“What do you mean?”

Father prompted me to put one of my knives on the ground and put one of his knives beside it. “Look, regular throwing knives generally don’t have sharp edges because you can accidentally cut yourself on them when you release the knife from your hand, like mine. Yours however have these sharp edges that make them more of a dagger-throwing knife hybrid than actual throwing knives, and because of that I thought you might get cut! Good thing that didn’t happen or I wouldn’t be able to answer to your mom, guafufufufufu!”

“THAT’S WHAT YOUR WORRIED ABOUT!?”

Turning serious suddenly, Father looked at me in the eyes. “Han, you need to have faith in the gifts of the phoenix. Especially the items that have touched the back wall.”

Put off by the abrupt change in mood, I answered dumbly, “Sure?”

Father burst into laughter, “Guafufufufufu, that’s my girl!”

This guy… does he have mood swings?!

“Well, I’m going to go now that I know your not going to cut yourself. If you need any help, come to Toby’s room to ask. Good luck!”

“Wai-” He already disappeared.

I huffed. What has my life become? Turning back toward the plank of wood, I was about to start practice throwing again when Zach suddenly appeared in front of me.

“Hey Hannah! How’s the first day of official apprentice training?”

Where did you come from?!

“Okay, I guess. What are you doing here?”

A determined glint passed through his eyes as he stared at me like a piece of meat. “I still haven’t gotten you to call me big brother yet.”

I forgot to mention this. No one knows when it started, but some time ago Zach suddenly became obsessed with making me call him ‘big brother’. His reasoning was that he apparently always wanted a younger sister and we were close enough to be siblings anyway. He certainly did treat me like one and me to him too, but I sincerely think that I should be the older one just based on our dynamic. So I never gave in out of spite.

“Just give it up Zach, I’ll never say it.”

“One day you will! Just watch!” 

“I won't, you dumba-” And he’s gone. Dammit, I really need to know how they disappear like that.

Shaking my head, I once again turned my attention toward the plank of wood before being interrupted one more time by Zach’s voice yelling from somewhere on the ship. “Oh, and Han, uncle Kowa said that you're not allowed to stop practicing until lunch time!”

I felt my forehead throb in annoyance. However, unbeknownst to me, a fond smile reluctantly stretched its way across my face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say that I've never actually thrown any knives before and just watched some youtube videos about it, so if I got just about everything wrong... I'm sorry.
> 
> I also want to say that this chapter was pretty rushed because of my exam and also because I didn't really know where to take it, so here it is.


	9. Going on a Tour

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for the long wait, I had to finish my exam and so I took a little break. Anyways, here's the chapter!
> 
> Just a warning to those who want a little heads up, the Hurt in the Hurt/Comfort is coming soon so be prepared. - Author

“Ha!” Thunk. Thunk.

It’s been almost three years since I started training in the art of knife throwing and I’ve become familiar with most techniques except a few of the hardest ones. I have also become increasingly able to throw accurately from varying distances with my record being a bullseye from a hundred meters away, though I think most of that was luck.

“Ha!” Thunk. Thunk.

Right now, I’m trying to get myself to be proficient with both hands. After all, this is One Piece, I wouldn’t be above expecting it to somehow chop off one of my hands or something. I’m also trying to get myself to throw more than one knife each time I threw because I realised that as I grew more, so did the size of my hands and I could therefore hold more than one knife in each hand. 

So far, I think all I have to do is keep practicing for a few more years and I’ll probably be able to hunt down the occasional bird that passes above our boat. Though I have no idea how I’m improving this quickly, I’ll just blame it, again, on the One-Piece-ifiedness of this body and universe. 

“Ha!” Thunk. Thunk.

Going over to the wooden board to pry off the knives, I noticed that it was getting pretty worn out. I suppose at dinner I’ll ask the shipwright if I could have one of his scrap boards or something.

Just as I was about to start throwing again, Zach suddenly popped right in front of my throwing path.

“Woah! Zach, actually, stop doing that. I’ll stab you one day if you keep on appearing right in front of me when I’m about to throw. I’m being serious here! It’s a safety hazard AND it’s not good for my heart everytime you do that.”

“Bwahahahaha, you’re just being a baby!”

“No, I’m being a responsible adult!” 

“No adult around us acts like that though.”

“That’s why I said RESPONSIBLE adult, there’s a difference.”

“Oh, whatever, when I grow up I just won’t be responsible then!”

“THAT’S A BAD THING!”

“It is? Well, I don’t really care. Bwahahahahaha!”

I facepalmed.

“Okay, spit it out, what are you doing here? You don’t come here unless you want something from me or unless father or mother asked you to pass on a message.”

Zach huffed, “It’s not that I don’t come here, it’s that you spend too much time in this place and are so focused everytime that you don’t even realise I’m here!”

“Fine then,” I said while I rolled my eyes, “You don’t disturb me from my ‘focused state’ unless you have something you want to bother me about. So, spill it.”

Zach, satisfied with the result, complied, “Uncle Kowa said that it’s time for dinner and Auntie Karen asked me to tell you that lil’ Tob’s looking for you. You know, since kids under five can’t enter the gym cause the equipment might hurt them.”

“So basically ‘get your ass out of the gym and stop practicing for once’.” I stated plainly.

“Yep.”

Sigh.

I know back in my old world the average human sighs about twelve times per hour, but I think I’ve used up enough sighs to last my lifetime in these last eight years.

As we were heading to the cafeteria, we chatted about a bunch of things such as the wolf cub that Zach’s been raising (he named it Wind). When Zach turned five, the item that he brought out was a packet of snacks (of course he did) that both he and the animal could eat apparently (because of course they could). This turned out to be the perfect item to tame and train animals and he therefore was apprenticed under one of the tamers we had.

“Speaking of items, Tobs is going to be getting his soon right?”

I nodded, “Yeah, they say since he was born pretty late into the year, they’ll have to hold the ceremony near Christmas.” How the ship knows when to open its doors when all the people turning five this year turn five, I have no idea. Though I have heard that I’ll be getting an explanation sometime in the future. I’ll be patient until then, but who can stop me from forming my own theories…

Returning back to the present, we arrived at the cafeteria. I immediately spotted my family at our usual table and also another thing moving towards me a little too quickly...

“Tobs- oof!”

Giggling, I held up Toby after he knocked into me. Toby had ice blue eyes that looked like it could see through anything and chubby cheeks that had just a few hints of freckles. By this time, he weighed about 40 pounds, an amount that I can lift with some effort, so even if he were to run at me I can still stay standing. Nice try Tobs.

“Tobs, what’s up? Not that you usually don’t greet me with a running start anyway.” I said as a smile blossomed across my face.

“Nothing, just glad that you’ve come out of your hole,” Toby with a cheeky grin that turned into a pout, “Seriously, you don’t play with me and I have nothing to do. I’m always so bored!”

Welcome to life on board this ship kid. Why do you even think I spend all that time in the gym?

Despite thinking this, I indulged him and said, “Then how about one of these days when your older sis gets better at throwing, I’ll show you some tricks? Or I’ll hunt you a bird or something.”

“You’ll do that for me? Cool!”

“Yeah, but I can only do that after a lot of practice. So I’ll still have to stay in the gym a lot.” I said slyly.

“Awwwwwww come on!”

“Hahahahahaha!”

We went back to our table and I saw my portion already sitting in front of my usual seat. Quickly saying my thanks, I began to stuff myself while somehow managing to be mindful of my manners. Despite this, mom shook her head.

“Slow down a bit Han, it’s not like there’s anybody who’s going to steal it and it’s not going to jump off your plate and start running away. Why are you rushing anyways?”

I cringed at the thought. Turns out that once you finish the first level of basic training, you’re supposed to add ten percent of what you are currently doing to the amount you’re already doing. You add this ten percent more frequently or less frequently depending on your rate of improvement, mine is once a month while for most others it’s around twice a year. Turns out there’s a lot of pressure when you finish basic training in just six months and are labeled a prodigy. Though the good thing is that there is a maximum of one hundred laps, one thousand push-ups and sit-ups. The planks and wall-sits don’t change since they’re measured by time.

“Well you try being forced to-”

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

I was interrupted in the middle of my sentence by the cook standing at the front of the room hitting a pot to gather attention while the ringmaster stood beside him. As the room quieted down and eyes began turning, the ringmaster started speaking.

“Everyone listen! I’ve been discussing this with some of the other leaders of the circus and we’ve come to a decision after a long time!”

I perked up, perhaps it isn’t a birthday announcement this time?

“We’re going on a tour of the Grandline! This means this will be the first time we’ll be sailing on New World waters in fifty years!”

“YEAHHHHHH!” Cheers started coming from every corner of the room and quickly turned deafening.

“I’m thinking this tour will take about two years. One year in Paradise and the other in the New World, how does that sound?!”

“WOOOOOOO! YOU’RE THE BEST, RINGMASTER!”

“LET’S GO SHOW THOSE PUNKS IN THE NEW WORLD WHAT WE GOT!”

Beside me, my parents were happy as well.

“It seems like there is finally something more to do around here than just putting on small shows!” 

“I’ve never been to the New World before, I would like to see what it has to offer.”

‘Well, ringmaster, this certainly is big news you’ve brought us’ I thought.

It’s finally becoming interesting around here.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Should I make another work that features shorts/extras of this one? It'll be part of the same series. Comment down below for your opinion to be heard! - Author


	10. Story of our Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of separate from the main story and is just there to fill in some plot holes. Though I think that by doing this, I may have created even more... Anyways, the plot will continue in the next chapter. - Author

You know that feeling when you’re being called to the principal’s office? Yeah, that’s what I’m feeling like right now, except I’m being called to the ringmaster’s table instead. The only thing letting me know that I’m not in trouble is the fact that a bunch of other kids are also coming with me and the fact that this was a yearly thing that happens to every ten year old on this ship.

“Okay everyone else, please take your families and leave the cafeteria so we can have some privacy!”

“But ringmaster, some of the slower ones haven’t finished eating yet!”

“Then eat it on the deck or something, just make sure to return the plates to the kitchen after you’re finished!”

As the others slowly gathered at the ringmaster’s table, the ringmaster looked around and waited for all of us to be seated. As soon as we were all here and comfortable, he started speaking. 

“Listen up kiddos, I know that you may have heard this story before from your parents or siblings because they’re a bunch of loud mouths, but this needs to be told properly! So pay attention, this is the story of our ancestors!”

Wait, is this finally where I can get the answers to my growing number of theories? I wasn’t prepared dammit!

The ringmaster continued to speak, unaware of my panicking, “A long time ago, there was a talented young magician who wanted to travel the world and hold the greatest shows that have graced these lands! The magician grew up and gathered many other talented artists that shared similar ambitions to him. They worked together to achieve their dreams and gradually created this circus.”

One of the kids spoke up, “Oh come on, this story? I’ve heard it before. Tell us a different one ringmaster!”

I scolded him, “Shut up! You may have heard it but others might not have, so quit whining. This is important!”

The ringmaster ignored us, “As the young magician became old and his hands less flexible, he retired from his career as a performer and chose to return to his home island. There he continued to live for many years happily in a small shack on a mountain, performing for the small children that would come to bother him and bang on his doors. However, soon he was diagnosed with an incurable disease and was on death’s doorsteps.”

A grin spread on his face, “He thought he would just waste the rest of his life away. However, one day he spotted an injured phoenix that was so weak, it could do nothing as the magician dragged it back to his house from where it landed in the forest that stretched across the mountain he lived on. Though he tried to save it, the phoenix had it’s life flame taken away, running only on what is left from its former glory.”

\---------------------------------------------

“You little thing, what did you even do to lose something as precious as your life flame?”

The phoenix narrowed its eyes which it used to glare at the sickly old man, “Mortal, though I may be young as a phoenix, I am centuries older than you! Show some respect!”

“Shashasha! I’ll show you some respect once you show you can be humble! Shashasha!” The old man said with a cheeky grin across his face.

“You!”  
………………………………………….

Many days passed like this with the phoenix and the man gradually becoming more and more close. The man constantly teased it and the phoenix quickly turned from the initial annoyance to each other’s only company on the remote mountain.  
………………………………………….

One day, the phoenix was lying under the sun with the old man beside him when he suddenly asked, “Hey, mortal, what do you do when you head out?”

The old man grinned, “Of course it’s to buy you food, after all, you can no longer fast without your flame. Though I never took you to be such an eater, ‘almost cleaned out my stock the very first day! Shashasha!”

The phoenix huffed and looked away, embarrassed, unaware of the sickly old man’s thoughtful gaze.

“It seems like today’s your final day. You gonna miss me?”

The phoenix squawked, “Of course not!”

“Shashasha! You sound energetic enough to me!”

After a moment of silence, the sickly old man spoke once again.

“You still haven’t told me how you lost your flame yet.”

The phoenix closed its eyes, “I was arrogant and ignorant. I let my guard down and let something that would not even be able to ruffle my feathers suck away my life. If I were given another chance, I would not do such a thing again.”

“Shashashasha!”

The phoenix grumbled, it’s fiery flames slowly becoming faint. With barely enough energy, it asked crossly. “What?”

The sick man smiled, “You know that I, too, do not have much time left in this world. So how about this? With what’s left of my remaining life essence, rebuild your flame of life and fly free once again!”

The phoenix opened its eyes and looked at the man in astonishment, “Mortal, why would you do something like that for me?”

“Shashasha, I just think it’ll be interesting to teach a being that has experienced death a thousand times the true value of life!” The sickly old man burst into laughter. “Plus, I think this is a great way to end my life compared to rotting on a bed.”

The phoenix huffed with laughter, “You sure are an interesting and whimsical old man, aren’t you?”

“Shashasha!”

“Very well! You should feel honored to be able to give your life to me!”

“Shashasha, I still haven’t managed to teach you how to act humble it seems! New condition, you have to ask me!”

“You!”

……………………………………………….

Using the remaining life essence from the man, the phoenix rebuilt his flame and was able to live once again. In order to repay this life debt, the phoenix began searching for the man’s family but could not find any as the man did not take a wife and had no siblings. It instead went to the circus the man spoke so much about during their time together and appeared before them.

……………………………………………….

Scrambling, a young boy ran into the circus tent and yelled, “RI-RINGMASTER, THERE’S A PHOENIX!”

“WHAT?!”

Both dashing outside, they made it just in time as the phoenix started speaking to the large crowd that formed around its majestic form.

“To these mortals that my benefactor considers his life’s pride, work, treasure and family, blessed are you today! For from today on, your rooms shall be connected to my centuries worth of treasure and your families never be extinguished! As long as one of you remains, your family shall rise again to be reborn anew! Let this sign of our promise never die!”

\------------------------------------------------

“From then on, we renamed our circus the ‘Flying Phoenix’ and gradually grew to what we are now.”

The ringmaster held up his mask, “These are the proof of the phoenix’s promise to us and our people. The only people able to enter the special corridor behind the doors are the people born with these masks, they serve as a verification yet also an inseparable bond that we all share with each other.”

Woah… I wasn’t really expecting this. This kind of sounds like some sort of backstory for an anime, though this is One Piece.

“So that means the place that we get our items from is the phoenix’s treasury? If it is an actual treasury, why is there no gold or jewels? Instead there are all these miscellaneous items.”

Everyone listened with curiosity.

The ringmaster shrugged, “That is something you’ll have to ask the phoenix if you ever meet it. However, I think it was for the best because we artists have no use for those things, yiyiyiyi!”

Another kid perked up and asked a question, “I always ask this question after hearing this story but my parents never answered: why is it that we only enter inside when we are five and not before? I have also never seen an adult enter it again after too.”

“Tch. At least they know not to say THESE things. It’s because excluding the fact that the doors only open once a year when every child that’s supposed to turn five that year turns five, we don’t seem to feel the ‘pull’ before that. As for why we don’t enter after, we just simply don’t feel the need to because after we obtain the items that pull us towards them, all others lose all appeal.”

“Why do we feel the pull in the first place?”

The ringmaster looked thoughtful, “This is always a popular question every year, but the truth is we don’t know why. We aren’t scientists and the most we have are theories and hypotheses, but nothing is really confirmed. One of the more popular theories among the adults is that the phoenix is still looking after us even without being here physically. As a legendary creature, it can see a few strands of fate and therefore, it chooses specific items that are the most perfect for each one of us and the way it informs us which item it chose for us is through the ‘pull’.”

“Then ringmaster, what exactly does the second blessing mean?” I ask, “It sounds like it just blessed our families so that our bloodlines would never end.”

“Yep, that’s exactly it. Though we have never encountered a situation where this particular blessing would come in handy, and I hope we will never have to, but yes, that’s essentially what it means.”

Just as I was about to ask another question, the other kids started raining their own on the ringmaster.

“Has the phoenix ever come back?”

“Will we ever see the phoe-”

“Does that mean-”

“Why-”

“Stop! I can’t hear you all if you start talking at the same time! This is the last question, if you have any others, go ask your parents!” The ring master then muttered, “Gosh dangit, the kids just get more and more hyper each year. The next time we do this I’m having someone else take over.”

Taking this chance, I rushed to ask first, “Was there any other blessings we received that perhaps the phoenix didn’t bother saying?”

“Hmmmm. Good question, as far as we’ve seen, our people generally have stronger bodies than average and even though we can’t fly, we can jump extremely high. Though, the phoenix didn’t give us anyway to land back safely afterwards. We had to learn the hard way! Yiyiyiyiyi!”

Clapping his hands together to signify the end of our little story telling session, the ringmaster said one last thing before we all left. 

“Oh, and remember to keep this all a secret! You can discuss it among the kids older than ten but never say a word of this to any outsider! Most would just think that it’s a story but some that believe it would target us because we’re different from them or because of our treasure. Even if you tell them they won’t be able to enter, they won’t listen! So keep all word of this strictly on the ship, got it?”

“Yes sir!”

As we all left from the cafeteria, all I could think of was this:

If the item was handpicked for us, why had I felt two pulls even if the other one was weaker?


	11. Author's Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An explanation about what happened and what is going to happen in the future.

Hello everyone! Sorry that I haven't updated in so long even though I used to update daily. I'll keep this short for everyone's sake so here we go.

Before, I was just taking a short break due to exams coming up. I had to temporarily stop updating to do a lot of last minute cramming and so that was the cause of the first few weeks of absence. After that however, I just found myself with a lack of motivation to continue writing this story. I was both perplexed and also resigned, I thought it was just because I lost my drive to keep writing after a long period of time where I stopped. I was prepared to announce that I was going to drop this but constantly found myself reluctant to do so. After a few months of reflection and pondering why I was hesitating so, I finally found out why.

Even though I first created this story as a way for me to picture myself inside my favorite story, I found that as I kept on writing, the character that I developed based on my personality was becoming more and more unlike how I am in reality. There was also the problem where I felt that I didn't write this story to its fullest potential. There were a lot of characters I could have flushed out more and many relationships that I could have spent more time developing. I felt that because of this, I personally couldn't connect with the characters I wrote as well as see them as people who are more than just cardboard. I am ashamed to admit this, but if I was a reader of my own fanfic I would have probably dropped this and moved on to find something more interesting to read.

Therefore... I'M REWRITING IT!!

Yes, you heard me. I'm not dropping this.

I'll be writing a new version of this work under the name "Taking Flight", it will be part of the same series so you can find it that way. I felt that with how I previously wrote, I could not bring this work to its fullest potential and so this new version will be one where I will address all those issues that I just listed. The plot will be mostly the same with only a few changes, but the character dynamics as well as relationships will be a lot more developed and intimate. By doing this however, every chapter would probably include more words and therefore there will be longer pauses between updates. (I warned you!)

By the time you are reading this, the first chapter will probably be out already. So go check it out!

Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoy the new version. This one will always be here for those who want to reread it as I won't be taking it down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my beloved readers who have spend their precious time reading my fic!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not very satisfied with this chapter because I felt it was too rushed, but I had to get it over with. So it's not the best, but it's not the worst. Future chapters will probably be better.


End file.
